Over at Ampotan, I found this post that attempts to question the perception of the Abe Cabinet's having been a failure thought provoking, but ultimately wrong.The mistake is equating legislative victories with success. Given the size of the LDP's majority in the Lower House, Abe hardly deserves credit for doing what a government supported by …
Author: Tobias S. Harris
Tobias Harris is Japan analyst at Teneo Intelligence. He is the author of a forthcoming biography of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Reviewing collective self-defense
While all of political Japan continues to discuss the assassination of Nagasaki Mayor Ito -- which I discussed here -- I am interested in the ongoing preparations for Prime Minister Abe's visit to Washington at the end of the month.Today, the Sankei Shimbun reports, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki addressed questions about the Cabinet's study group …
A Korean admires Koizumi
This op-ed from the Chosun Ilbo by Tokyo correspondent Jong Son-U -- entitled "We Can Learn Much From Japanese Patriotism" -- provides yet another reminder of why it is unfair to view Japanese nationalism as a unique threat to the region.Jong writes of a visit to Yasukuni by Koizumi last year:I felt strangely envious at …
Subterranean Japan blues
The big story, worldwide, out of Japan today was, of course, the assassination of Nagasaki Mayor Ito Itcho. (BBC; CNN; Yomiuri editorial)The suspected assassin, Shiroo Tetsuya, a local Yakuza boss, seems to have had no other motive than to avenge a trivial wrong.The coverage within Japan seems to hinge on the supposed threat to democracy …
Japan’s own Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The Abe Cabinet, in the interest of promoting a more globalized and more competitive Japanese economy, has announced that it will seek to repeal Japan's equivalent to the US New Deal-era Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed in the US in 1999 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. (The FT's coverage can be read here.)The …
Demographics and political change
The Japan Times has a brief article about the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' latest survey of Japan's population, conducted in October of last year.The survey found that Japan's population held steady at roughly 127 million people, but there was considerable change in the populations of Japan's prefectures, a continuation of the shift of …
Weird moment of the week
Seated next to Dr. NakaMats at a study group at the International House of Japan, I listened to researcher Watanabe Tsuneo -- not the onetime Yomiuri boss -- explain the meaning of "nappy-headed hos" in Japanese to an audience of businessmen and retired diplomats and politicians.Beat that, if you can.
Towards a trilateral mechanism
Robert Zoellick, former deputy secretary of state and architect of the Bush administration's "responsible stakeholder" approach to Sino-US relations, has an op-ed in the FT -- subscription required -- in which he calls for a new "Shanghai Communiqué."He wrote:Chinese leaders place value on determining the principles that should guide policy. That is sound logic. Yet …
Japan’s campaign trucks
Over at Japan Probe, James writes about Japan's ubiquitous -- during election season -- campaign sound trucks, about which I have a certain appreciation, having been on the working side of several election campaigns now. (See this post, for example.)As annoying as noise pollution is at 8:30am, foreigners resident in Japan must realize the severe …
Friction in the coalition?
The Mainichi Shimbun reports in a brief article that the New Komeito Party, the LDP's coalition partner, wants to maintain clauses one and two of Article 9 and does not seek the ability to exercise the right of collective self-defense.Surely a disagreement within the LDP-Komeito coalition on constitution revision and the related question of collective …
Tobias S. Harris 